The present invention relates to an auxiliary shock absorber assembly for use on a motor vehicle in combination with the original suspension system and shock absorbers or with modified shock absorbers to provide additional shock absorption when encountering rough terrain or potholes in the roadway without affecting the stiffness of the ride over normal road conditions.
When a motor vehicle equipped with conventional shock absorbers is driven off-road or otherwise encounters rough road conditions such as potholes, the impact force of the tire against the road or pothole causes the vehicle suspension system and the shock absorber on the impacting wheel to bottom out, resulting in a jarring impact on the vehicle frame, axle and suspension and possible damage thereto as well as jarring the vehicle's occupants. The use of stiffer shock absorbers not only provides stiffer and thus a less comfortable ride over normal road conditions, but is still generally ineffective in preventing a jarring of the vehicle due to the large forces generated by impacting abrupt irregularities in the roadway. A solution to the problem for off-road vehicles is to mount two conventional shock absorbers in tandem for each wheel. While such a mounting greatly increases the ability of the shock absorbers to absorb the shock of impact and thus greatly reduces the jarring to the vehicle and its passengers, the use of two shock absorbers in tandem for each wheel overly stiffens the ride for normal road conditions.
In view of the common use of vehicles over both smooth and rough terrain and the prevalence of potholes in city streets and the like, it would be highly desirable to provide a shock absorption assembly which was capable of greater energy dissipation for rough terrain use but which retained a relatively soft comfortable ride for normal city and highway driving conditions. It would also be desirable from both a cost and convenience standpoint to provide such an assembly which is compatible with existing vehicle suspension systems and did not need to be adjusted when encountering variations in roadway conditions. Such a shock absorber assembly is disclosed and claimed herein.